Olivier Solanet <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>The first - which I've been asking myself my entire life - What do the
>Russians know that we don't?

While you may not have meant this to anything more than a
reflection on your experience...I don't find all Russian musicians
alike.  They certainly had more than their share of great pianists,
Richter, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, etc.  I don't find many of the current
generation to be particularly interesting.  While there is a sadness in
the music of many Russian composers...Rachmaninoff suffered from clinical
depression, Tchaikovsky was a very troubled man with problems related
to his sexuality...yet there is, from time to time a brightness in the
music of Rimsky Korsakov...and more of the depression can be found in
Mussorgsky.  Borodin, at least to my ears, did not share the melancholy,
nor did Prokofiev.  Then there are countless others like Medtner,
Miaskovsky, Blumenfeld (who wrote a lovely symphony-teacher of Horowitz)
Eshpai, Kabalevsky, et al.  All very different, some good and some not
so good.

Do you find a common thread in Russian Musicians?

and

>the second - When is the classical music world going to wake up and
>start catering to a new and younger audience (emotionally)?  (Also, when
>are we going to stop hearing the same boring Beethoven and Mozart season
>in,season out???)

A question that has been asked on this list on numerous occasions is,
"how does one attract a new and younger audience?" You can check the
back files of the list for some answers but perhaps you have some new
thoughts.  I believe we would all love to hear any new perspective.

As to when will we stop hearing the same boring Beethoven and Mozart...are
you referring to dull performances of Beethoven and Mozart or are you
concerned with Beethoven and Mozart sounding dull?

Karl

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